William Hewat McLeod

PhD DLit Lond FRSNZ

WH McLeod FRSNZ (Photo courtesy Otago Daily Times)

William Hewat McLeod was born in 1932 in Fielding. He grew up on his parents’ farm, learning to do most of the jobs that farm boys do, and later attended Nelson College. Here he became captain of the Rutherford House First XV and Head Boy. Next he proceeded to Knox College and the University of Otago where he became close friends with several men who went on to become Professors and Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He majored in History without causing anyone to suspect that he would become the Department’s most distinguished graduate, and then entered Theological Hall to commence his training for ordination as a Presbyterian Minister. Here Helmut Rex, a distinguished church historian and a refugee from Nazi Germany, introduced him to the German historiographical tradition. Before his ordination he married Margaret Wylie, an English graduate and a fellow member of the Student Christian Movement. She became his stalwart supporter and confidante.

In his memoir, he remarked that as the prospect of life in a New Zealand parish drew closer so his unease grew. And then, providentially, a vacancy opened for a missionary in India. Margaret agreed. He applied. Nobody else did. And so it came to pass that Hew, Margaret and their new baby set off for the Punjab, Hew devouring anything he could find about their destination. Teaching English to Punjabis did not prove very satisfying and before long he began to read whatever he could find about these people, the Sikhs, and their religion, Sikhism. He also decided to learn their language. After five years in the field, missionaries were required to take a year off and study. Hew wrote to the author of his favourite book on India, Professor A. L. Basham of the School of African and Oriental Studies – part of the University of London - asking whether he would supervise his PhD. Basham said yes. The McLeods - there were now three sons - moved to London and Hew began to apply the principles of hermeneutics learned in Knox Theological Hall to the Sikh religious texts and the life of Guru Nanak. ‘The results’, as he later recalled, 'were dramatic'. What could be established beyond doubt about Nanak could be written on less than one page.

On Hew’s graduation the McLeods returned to India where Hew obtained a job teaching Punjabis their own history in Punjabi. Here he (and Margaret) discovered that they had lost their faith. ‘It was our Damascus Road in reverse.’ In 1986 The Clarendon Press also published his revised thesis, Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. In 1970 he was appointed to the History Department at the University of Otago and arrived to teach his first class in 1971. Although promoted to a personal chair within two years, he would not teach his specialty until 1989.

Sikh Studies now became an extremely important element of Hew’s life. And Hew was absolutely fundamental in shaping Sikh Studies. Hew himself, of course, would never have said that. He always saw himself as a scholar who posed questions and as an historian who could offer tentative answers to those questions: his work was always careful and judicious. Hew’s writing was humble, but it was revolutionary too. It transformed the academic study of Sikhism and it reshaped how many Sikhs think about their own past.

Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion (1968, rev. edn. 1976) formed the taproot for all of his later work on the Sikh tradition and community. This book evaluated the historical value of the janam-sakhis, popular narratives that recounted the life of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak and embodied the highest standards of philological analysis and the contextualised evaluation of sources. But this approach angered some Sikhs who were critical of what they understood as a direct challenge to authenticity of their traditions. The Evolution of the Sikh Community, first published in Delhi by Oxford University Press in 1975 then by The Clarendon Press in 1976, provided by far the fullest and most scholarly account of the formation of a community that was as important to South Asia as the Jews had been to Europe, or so he used to say. His scholarly work focused on two areas: first, the texts that were central to the Sikh tradition, including four important translations (together with scholarly notes, appendices, and an introductory essay); and second, the broader issue of the relationship between history, religion, society and Sikh identity. Two works proved especially significant: The Sikhs: history, religion, and society, published by Columbia University Press in New York, 1989, and Who is a Sikh? The problem of Sikh identity, published by The Clarendon Press, Oxford, also in 1989 (also published in the same year by Oxford University Press, New Delhi, followed by a paperback edition from the same publisher in 2002).

He was never confined by his major interests, however. In 1986 Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, published Punjabis in New Zealand: A history of Punjabi migration, 1890−1940, at that point the only scholarly study of migration to New Zealand by any ethnic group. His rigorous use of the best social science method distinguished this work, just as his use of the best hermeneutical practice distinguished much of his other work. (He also collaborated with S.S. Bhullar to publish Punjab to Aotearoa: migration and settlement of Punjabis in New Zealand 1890−1990.)

While on sabbatical leave on a Commonwealth Scholarship from the University of Toronto, Hew for the first time had an extended opportunity to travel and meet North America’s community of Sikh scholars. He relished them as much as they relished him. He taught three courses in his specialty while at Toronto – although this was not required – and undertook an ambitious lecture tour of several of the greatest universities in the United States. Early in 1987, while in New York to give a lecture at Columbia, Hew suffered a major stroke. (He had ‘a dissecting aneurysm in … [his] left carotid artery’.) His sheer determination, together with the dedication of close friends and his wife and oldest son, who was working in Paris, ensured his survival.

‘That stroke turned my life upside down …’, he later wrote. It also forged from the friendships that they had made in North America a tight circle of very close friends. Back in Toronto he began doing jigsaw puzzles, throwing balls, eating grapes one by one, and walking. The University of Otago gave him leave from teaching to recuperate and he used it to bring to completion three manuscripts. To his great relief he found that in writing his abilities were unimpaired.

Being Hew, he also soon set out to teach himself to talk and lecture. Realising that he could no longer improvise a lecture, he settled down to write each lecture out in full. For his senior classes, with his wife Margaret’s help, he worked out new ways of teaching that involved the students undertaking more. It was more difficult with staff meetings or even staff jollifications. Indeed it was impossible. When more than one person spoke at the same time he understood nothing. He also found it maddening beyond belief to launch into a sentence only to forget a key word and stand speechless.

When in 1990 he was awarded a D Lit. by the University of London for his nine major books and 40-odd scholarly papers, the department put on a dinner in his honour. In my after-dinner speech I referred to his mastery of all the languages relevant to his work, his exhaustive archival research, his command of the relevant literature not only in History but in cognate disciplines, his skill as an oral historian and as textual critic, and his 'resolute wrestling with the relationship between belief, social structure and change over time'.

At this time we also set up his unique arrangement where he taught his Otago papers during the first two terms then left for Toronto where he taught two more undergraduate papers during their second semester. He did this for five years, accompanied and supported as ever by Margaret. He recalled in his autobiography: ‘This proved to be an unusually productive and satisfying arrangement’. His high profile in North America also brought unwelcome notoriety among some expatriate Sikhs. He became the subject of an on-going and sometimes unpleasant controversy. Ever courteous, however, he interrupted the renewed flow of scholarly publications, including dozens of contributions to encyclopaedias and anthologies, to write Discovering the Sikhs: autobiography of an historian (Delhi, Permanent Black, 2004).

As a historian, mentor, colleague and friend, Hew nourished the study of Sikhism. It was in this period that e-mail became widely used and Hew made full use of the new medium for maintaining contact with an ever-enlarging circle of Sikh scholars and students. With unfailing courtesy and promptness he gave as much thought and care to inquiries from people he had never met as he did to the inquiries from old friends and other scholars. His passing has been keenly felt within this global scholarly community. Tributes to Hew have been posted on various Sikh discussion lists and websites. And Punjabi newspapers and Sikh community newspapers have published substantial obituaries overnight, paying tribute to his scholarship and his humanity.

One learning of Hew’s death, Professor Jerry Barrier, one of the world’s pre-eminent scholars of the Sikhs, wrote:

Hew had a unique intelligence coupled with a commitment to history, finding the truth, and getting every piece of evidence, small and large, from documents. He pulled no punches when examining Sikh tradition, although characteristically, he frequently interjected phrases such as “it is possible” or “the evidence seems to suggest” so as to open up dialogue with others who might have different perspectives and use different documents.

The products of his work? A lifetime of unbroken scholarship: books, articles, and conference papers. His work ethic was legendary. Books and articles rolled out regularly, even as he struggled with illness.

As numerous associates note in their reflections on Hew’s life, he helped define Sikh studies. He also trained a new generation of scholars and taught many students who built upon their experiences to move in a variety of directions.

Although Hew’s work was controversial, he demonstrated how to deal with arguments and still preserve one’s dignity and balance. A close friend in Canada, Sher Singh, has written eloquently about how Hew personified a central Sikh concept, sehaj, or equipoise, solemnity: “ not once, did I see him lose poise or his ability to smile—that lovely disarming smile of his—or his gentleness or his gentility, or his humanity. There was always grace about him.”

He changed the lives of scholars and friends around him. All have their Hew McLeod stories. We would send in papers, and almost immediately get detailed replies, queries, and supportive suggestions. I can think of no better example than the way Himadri Banerjee describes his relationship with Hew. Himadri never met Hew in person, but carried on an extensive correspondence for two decades. Himadri describes Hew as “my answering machine in the domain of Sikh studies.” Van Dusenbery also remembers how Hew encouraged Rashmere Bhatti and Van when they were working on a book about the Sikh community in Woolgoolga. Rashmere venerates Hew as a truly selfless Sewadar (one who gives service). Hew gave service to each one of us, and we all are better scholars and human beings because of that sharing and empathy.

In the last decade or so, Hew became central to the evolution of a new cyber community of scholars. He and I exchanged ideas and news almost daily. Others recount how Hew served as a “walking encyclopedia,” answering endless queries with supportive, gently corrective comments when necessary, and with a humourous edge. Writing from Calcutta, Himadri Banerjee sums up these connection well: “The world is big and isolating but for a few moments he could make us feel that we belong to a larger family.…For more than forty years, he has silently been constructing an invisible human bridge that keeps us together.”

Hew has gone, but his intellectual presence remains in his work, in his students, and in the bridges he constructed between people and between communities.

Bibliography

BOOKS

Books published

Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Oxford: the Clarendon Press (1968). First Indian ed., rev. Delhi: OUP (1976). Third impression 1988. Oxford India Paperbacks 1996, 1998, 2001. xii, 259p. Reprinted as a part of the omnibus volume Sikhs and Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000). Single copy and omnibus still in print.

The Evolution of the Sikh Community. Delhi: OUP (1975). Oxford: the Clarendon Press (1976). viii, 119p. Oxford India Paperbacks 1996, 1998. xi, 127p. Reprinted as a part of the omnibus volume Sikhs and Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000). Single copy and omnibus still in print.

Early Sikh Tradition. A study of the janam‑sakhis. Oxford: the Clarendon Press (1980). xiv, 317p. Reprinted as a part of the omnibus volume Sikhs and Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000). Omnibus still in print.

Punjabis in New Zealand: A history of Punjabi migration, 1890−1940. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University (1986). Illus, maps. iv, 199p. Still in print.

The Sikhs: history, religion, and society. New York: Columbia University Press (1989). ix, 161p. Still in print.

Who is a Sikh? The problem of Sikh identity. Oxford: the Clarendon Press (1989). New Delhi: OUP (1989). New Delhi: OUP (Oxford India Paperbacks 2002). x, 140p. Reprinted as a part of the omnibus volume Sikhs and Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000). Single copy and omnibus still in print.

Popular Sikh Art. A selection of bazaar posters with accompanying text. Delhi: OUP (1991). Illustrated. xi, 139p.

Punjab to Aotearoa: migration and settlement of Punjabis in New Zealand 1890-1990. With S. S. Bhullar. Hamilton: New Zealand Indian Association Country Section (Inc.) (1992). Illustrated. 177p. Still in print as far as I know. Obtainable from Mr S.S.Bhullar, PO Box 26, Taumarunui.

Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. Lanham, Md., and London: Scarecrow Press (1995). 323p. Reprinted for South Asia by the Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2002, with Addendum to the Bibliography. 349p. Second edition revised and enlarged published by the Scarecrow Press, 2005. Both publications still in print.

Sikhism. London: Penguin Books (1997). 334p. Copies available in India.

Gandhi and Indian Independence. With Richard Webb. Auckland: Macmillans (1998). 108p. Still in print.

Sikhs and Sikhism. Omnibus volume containing reprints of Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion, Early Sikh Tradition, The Evolution of the Sikh Community, and Who is a Sikh?, all originally published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, and Oxford University Press, New Delhi. New Delhi: Oxford University Press (1999). 259+317+127+140p. Still in print.

Exploring Sikhism: aspects of Sikh identity, culture, and thought. Collected articles. New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2000). 288p. Still in print.

Sikhs of the Khalsa: a history of the Khalsa Rahit. New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2003). xvi, 482p. Still in print.

Discovering the Sikhs: autobiography of a historian. Delhi: Permanent Black (2004). xii, 245p. Still in print.

Essays in Sikh History, Tradition, and Society. New Delhi: Oxford University Press (2007). Still in print.

Edited translations (translations by W. H. McLeod)

The B40 Janam‑sākhī. An English translation with introduction and annotations of the India Office Library Gurmukhi manuscript Panj. B40, a janam‑sakhi of Guru Nanak compiled in A.D. 1733 by Daya Ram Abrol. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University (1980). xiv, 32, 271p.

Textual Sources for the Study of Sikhism. Manchester: Manchester University Press (1984). Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1990). x, 166p. Chicago publication still in print.

The Chaupā Siṅgh Rahit‑nāmā. The rahit‑nama attributed to Chaupa Singh Chhibbar and the associated prose rahit‑nama attributed to Nand Lal. Gurmukhi text and English translation with introduction and notes. Dunedin: University of Otago Press (1987). 260p.

Prem Sumārag: the testimony of a Sanatan Sikh. An eighteenth-century rahit-nama with introduction. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006. 129p. Still in print.

Translation into Punjabi of work previously published in English

Gurū Nānak de udesh. Punjabi translation of Part V of Guru Nanak and the Sikh Religion. Translator: Mohan Jit Singh. Amritsar: Guru Nanak Dev University (1974). 115p.

Published work edited

Henry Steinbach, The Punjaub (1st ed. London, 1846) 2nd edition, with introduction by W. H. McLeod. Karachi: Oxford University Press (Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints) (1976). xxxiv, 183p.

Edited volumes

The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India. Ed. Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1987). Still in print.

Sikh History and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Joseph T. O'Connell, Milton Israel, Willard G. Oxtoby, W. H. McLeod, and J. S. Grewal. Toronto: University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies (1988). Still in print.

BOOKLETS

The Sikhs of the Punjab. A text for use in secondary schools. First N.Z. edition published by Graphic Educational Publications, Auckland (1968). Second N.Z. edition by Whitcombe & Tombs, Auckland (1970). Indian edition by Lyall, Ludhiana (1969). U.K. edition by Oriel Press, Newcastle‑on‑Tyne (1970). 32p.

The Way of the Sikh. For children 10−12 years. Amersham, U.K.: Hulton Educational Publications (1975 and four reprints). 60p.

A List of Punjabi Immigrants in New Zealand 1890−1939. Hamilton, Country Section of the Central Indian Association (1984). Illustrated. 82p.

ARTICLES

Articles published

Guru Nanak and Kabir. Proceedings of the Punjab History Conference (1966 for 1965), 87-92.

Procedures in analysing the sources for the life of Guru Nanak. Journal of Indian History XLV:1 (April 1967), 207-27.

The teachings of Guru Nanak. The Sikh Review XVI:172 (Nov. 1967), 9-14.

The influence of Islam upon the thought of Guru Nanak. Sikhism and Indian Society: Transactions of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study IV (1967), 292-308. Slightly revised version reprinted in History of Religions II.4 (May 1968), 302-16. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: ODP, 2000), 3-18.

The Miharban Janam-sakhi: an examination of the gost form with special reference to Pothi Hariji and Pothi Chaturbhuj of the Miharban Janam-sakhi.

Introductory essay in the Khalsa College edition of The Miharban Janam-sakhi, vol. II Amritsar: Khalsa College (1969), i-xii.

Shabad da' sidha'nt: Guru' Na'nak ji' te Kabi'r di' tulana'. Alochana (1969). In Punjabi. Reprinted in Pahila Patasahi Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. Ed. Pritam Singh. Ludhiana: Panjabi Sahit Akademi (1969), 332−338.

Guru Nanak and the impact of modern scientific thought. The Sikh Review XVIII: 196 (December 1969-January 1970), 85-91.

Haki'kat ra'h muka'm Ra'je Sivana'bh ki': an account of the Way to the Abode of Raja Sivanabh, being an examination of a prose passage appended to many manuscript copies of the Adi Granth. Proceedings of the Punjab History Conference 1969, 4 (1970), 96-105.

The janam-sakhis as sources of Punjab history, Proceedings of the Punjab History Conference 1969, 4 (1970), 109-21.

Sikhism. Man and his Gods: encyclopedia of the world's religions. Ed. Geoffrey Parrinder. London: Hamlyn (1971), 210-21. Repr. in World Religions from Ancient History to the Present. Ed. Geoffrey Parrinder. New York: Facts on File (1983), 250-61.

The Nanak of Faith and the Nanak of History. History and Contemporary India. Ed. J. C. B. Webster. Bombay: Asia Publishing House (1971), 46-56. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 37-46.

Sikhism. Expository Times 83:12 (Sept 1972), 356-59.

The Kukas: a millenarian sect of the Punjab. W. P. Morrell: a Tribute. Ed. G. A. Wood and P. S. O'Connor. Dunedin: University of Otago Press (1973), 85-103. Reprinted in The Panjab Past and Present XIII: 1 (April, 1979), 164-87. Reprinted in Social and Political Movements: Readings on Punjab, ed. Harish K. Puri and Paramjit S. Judge (Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2000), 27-56. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000),189-215.

Pitfalls for the writer of History. Proceedings of a Weekend School, Dunedin, 2-3 October 1971. Dunedin: New Zealand Library Association, Otago Branch (1973), Bl-17.

Inter-linear inscriptions in Sri Lanka. South Asia 3 (August 1973), 105-06.

Ethical standards in world religions: the Sikhs. Expository Times 85:8 (1974), 233-37. Repr. in The Sikh Courier 7:5 (Spring 1975), 4-9.

Ahluwalias and Ramgarhias: two Sikh castes. South Asia 4 (October, 1974), 78-90. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 216-34.

Nanak. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1974), 821-22. Reprinted.

The significance of Baba Farid as a symbol of human brotherhood. The Journal of Religious Studies V.1 & 2 (Spring-Autumn, 1974), 225-37. Repr. The Sikh Tradition: a continuing reality. Ed. Sardar Singh Bhatia and Anand Spencer. Patiala: Punjabi University, 1999, 162-75.

Sikhism. A Cultural History of India. Ed. A. L. Basham. Oxford: the Clarendon Press (1975), 294-302. Repr. Man's Religious Quest. Ed. Whitfield Foy. London: Croom Helm in association with the Open University (1978), 287-97.

Colonel Steinbach and the Sikhs. The Panjab Past and Present IX.2 (October, 1975), 291-98.

Religious tolerance in Sikh scriptural writings. Guru Tegh Bahadur. Ed. G. S. Talib. Patiala: Punjabi University, (1976), 228-42.

Trade and investment in sixteenth and seventeenth century Punjab: the testimony of the Sikh devotional literature. Essays in Honour of Doctor Ganda Singh. Ed. Harbans Singh and N. G. Barrier. Patiala: Punjabi University (1976), 81-91.

Punjabis in New Zealand. NZASIAN 4 (1977), 13-21.

Mangal Singh of Otorohanga. Art of Living III:4 (April, 1976), 9-10, 43. Repr. in The Sikh Sansar 6:1 (March, 1977), 16-17.

On the word panth: a problem of terminology and definition. Contributions to Indian Sociology 12:2 (1979), 287-95. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 139-48.

The Sikh Scriptures: some issues. Sikh Studies: comparative perspectives on a changing tradition. Ed. Mark Juergensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series (1979), 97-111.

The Sikhs of the South Pacific. Sikh Studies: comparative perspectives on a changing tradition. Ed. Mark Juergensmeyer and N. Gerald Barrier. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series (1979), 143-58.

The question of semantics. Rituals and Sacraments in Indian Religions. Ed. Clarence O. McMullen. Delhi: ISPCK (1979), 9-15.

The Sikhs and the Maoris. The Panjab Past and Present XV.1 (April 1981), 232-33.

The Punjabi community in New Zealand. Indians in New Zealand. Ed. Kapil N. Tiwari. Wellington: Price Milburn (1980), 113-21. Reprinted as 'The Sikhs and Sikhism in New Zealand' in The Panjab Past and Present XVI-II (Oct. 1982), 407-16.

Kabir, Nanak, and the early Sikh Panth. Religious Change and Cultural Domination. Ed. David N. Lorenzen. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1981, 173-91. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 19-36. Spanish edition: Cambio religiso y dominacion cultural. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1982, 191-209.

The problem of the Panjabi rahit-namas. S. N. Mukherjee India: history and thought. Essays in Honour of A. L. Basham. Calcutta: Subarnarekha (1982), 103-26. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 103-25.

Sikhism entries in The Penguin Dictionary of Religions. Ed. J. Hinnells. London: Allen Lane (1983). 40 entries on Sikhism. Repr. in The Facts on File Dictionary of Religions. New York: Facts on File (1984).

The Khalsa Rahit: the Sikh identity defined. Identity Issues and World Religions. Selected Proceedings of the Fifteenth Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions. Ed. Victor C. Hayes. Bedford Park, SA: The Australian Association for the Study of Religions at the South Australian College of Advanced Education (1986), 104-109. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 126-35.

The development of the Sikh Panth. The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India. Ed. Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1987), 229-49. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: ODP, 2000), 49-69.

The meaning of "Sant" in Sikh usage. The Sants: studies in a devotional tradition of India. Ed. Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod. Berkeley: Berkeley Religious Studies Series; Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1987), 251-63. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: ODP, 2000), 149-61.

The Sikhs: crisis and identity in a religious tradition. Harvard Divinity Bulletin XVII:2 (January-May, 1987), 7-9.

Editors' introduction in Sikh History and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Joseph T. O'Connell, Milton Israel, Willard G. Oxtoby, W. H. McLeod, and J. S. Grewal. Toronto: University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies (1988), 9-15.

A Sikh theology for modem times Sikh History and Religion in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Joseph T. O'Connell, Milton Israel, Willard G. Oxtoby, W. H. McLeod, and J. S. Grewal. Toronto: University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies (1988), 32-43.

History: "an academic amusement". Studies in Orientology: Essays in memory of Professor A.L. Basham. s. K. Maity, Upendra Thakur, and A. K. Narain. Agra: Y.K. Publishers (1988), 90-94.

Articles in The Encyclopedia of Asian History. Ed. in Chief Ainslie T. Embree. New York: Asia Society of New York and Charles Scribner's Sons. London: Collier Macmillan (1988). Articles on Sikhs and Sikhism: Nanak, Ranjit Singh, Akali Dal, Tara Singh, and Fateh Singh.

The first forty years of Sikh migration: problems and some possible solutions. The Sikh Diaspora: migration and experiences beyond the Punjab. Ed. N. G. Barrier and V. A. Dusenbery. Delhi: Chanakya Publications; Columbia, Mo: South Asia Publications (1989), 29-48. Repr. in Studies in Sikhism and Comparative Religion VIII:l (April 1989), 130-41. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: ODP, 2000), 237−253.

Teaching History to Undergraduates in India: a trans-Indian view. On Being a Teacher. Ed. Amrik Singh. New Delhi: Konark Publishers (1990), 190-204.

The role of Sikh doctrine and tradition in the current Punjab crisis. Religious Movements and Social Identity. Ed. Bardwell L. Smith. Vol. 4 of Boeings and Bullock-carts: studies in change and continuity in Indian civilization. Essays in Honour of K. Ishwaran. Delhi: Chanakya Publications (1990), 96−116.

The contribution of the Singh Sabha Movement to the interpretation of Sikh history and religion. Religious Studies in Dialogue: essays in honour of Albert C. Moore. Ed. Maurice Andrew, Peter Matheson and Simon Rae. Dunedin: Faculty of Theology, University of Otago (1991), 143-151. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 91-99.

Articles on Sikhs. Who's Who in the World Religions. Ed. John R. Hinnells London: Macmillan (1991). 23 articles.

The Sikh struggle inthe eighteenth century and its relevance for today. History of Religions (University of Chicago) XXXI:4 (May 1992), 344−363. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 70−90.

The study of Sikh literature. Studying the Sikhs: issues for North America. Ed. John Stratton Hawley and Gurinder Singh Mann. Albany: State University of New York Press (1993), 47-68.

Articles in The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Editor-in-chief Harbans Singh. Patiala: Punjabi University. Volume 1 (1992) A-D: Adi Sakhian (9-10); Angad Dev, Guru (146-49); B40 Janam sakhi (232-33); Bala Janam sakhi (262-65). Volume 2 (1996) E-L: Haumai (265-67); Hukam (286-89); Janamsakhi (337-40). Volume 3 (1997) M-R: Mani Singh Janam-sakhi (41-42); Miharban Janam-sakhi (85-86); Puratan Janam-sakhi (410-13). Volume 4 (1998) N-Z: Shabad (88-90).

Report entitled 'Sikhs and the Turban' prepared for the Justice Department, Government of Canada, for a court case John L. Grant et al v. the Attorney General et al (Federal Court file no. T-499-91) held in Calgary, Jan-Feb 1994. 22p.

Where it all started. The Sikh Review 42:1 (Jan. 1994) 49−52.

Sikhism. Collier's Encyclopedia. New York: Collier (1994 edition), vol. 21, 21−23.

Cries of outrage: history versus tradition in the study of the Sikh community. South Asia Research 14.2 (Autumn 1994), 121-35. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 267-79.

The hagiography of the Sikhs. According to Tradition: hagiographical writing in India. Ed. Winand M. Callewaert and Rupert Snell. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag (1994), 15-41.

Three items in Religions of India in Practice. Ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Princeton Readings in Religions. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1995). Translations with introductions and commentary. "Sikh Hymns to the Divine Name", 126-32. "The Order for Khalsa Initiation", 321-25. "The Life of Guru Nanak", 449-61.

Sikhism entries in A New Dictionary of Religions. Ed. John R. Hinnells. Oxford: Blackwell (1995). Revised and expanded version of The Penguin Dictionary of Religions. 63 entries on Sikhism.

Sikhism. Encyclopedia of Bioethics. Rev. ed. Ed. in Chief Warren Thomas Reich. Vol. 5. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995. 2397-99.

Phomen Singh. Entry in The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, volume 3. Auckland: Auckland University Press/Department of Internal Affairs (1996), p

Max Arthur Macauliffe. British Association for the Study of Religions Bulletin, no. 78 (June 1996), 6-12. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 257-63.

Gender and the Sikh Panth. The Transmission of the Sikh Heritage in the Diaspora, ed. Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier. New Delhi: Manohar, 1996, 37-43.

Articles on the Adi Granth; Authoritative texts and their interpretation, Sikh; Guru, in Sikhism; Guru Gobind Singh; Khalsa; Dasam Granth; Janam-sakhis; Japji; Ks, the Five; Panjab; and Panth (related to Qaum). In The Harper Collins Dictionary of Religion, ed. Jonathan Z. Smith, in assoc. with the American Academy of Religion. London: Harper Collins, 1996.

Sikh Fundamentalism. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 118.1 (January-March 1998), 15-27. Reprinted in Exploring Sikhism (New Delhi: OUP, 2000), 162-86.

The turban: symbol of Sikh identity. Sikh Identity: continuity and change. Ed. Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier. New Delhi: Manohar, 1999,57-67. Repr as "Sikhs and the turban" in Sikh Forms and Symbols, ed. Mohinder Singh (New Delhi: Manohar, 2000), 95-105.

What is History? New Zealand Legacy, Journal of the New Zealand Federation of Historical Societies, 11.2 (1999), 16-22.

Discord in the Sikh Panth. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 119.3 (July-Sept 1999), 381-89.

Sikhs and Muslims in the Punjab. South Asia. Special issue, Islam in History and Politics. Vol XXII (1999), 155−165. Reprinted in Asim Roy (ed.), Islam in History and Politics: Perspectives from South Asia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Homeland, history, religion, and emigration. A Punjabi Community in Australia. Eds. Rashmere Bhatti and Verne A. Dusenbery. Woolgoolga: Woolgoolga Neighbourhood Centre Inc, 2001, 3−32.

The Sikhs today. A Punjabi Community in Australia. Eds. Rashmere Bhatti and Verne A. Dusenbery. Woolgoolga: Woolgoolga Neighbourhood Centre Inc, 2001, 266-267.

Art. 'The Life of Guru Nanak' , in Religions of Asia in Practice: an Anthology. Ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002, 109−121. Copy of article from Religions of India in Practice, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995).

Punjab - Discovering Faith in History. Megha Rajdootam, vol 2 no. 1 (2003), 20−21. Megha Rajdootam is published for the High Commissioner for India in New Zealand.

Researching the Rahit. Sikhism and History Eds. Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004, 30−43.

Untitled piece concerning the method of a historian. Sikhism and History Eds. Pashaura Singh and N. Gerald Barrier. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004, 8−11.

Art. 'Sikhism'. Encyclopaedia Britannica. c. 15,000 words.

Art. 'The Tat Khalsa and Sikh Historiography'. Seminar 567 (November 2006), p.78.

Review art. 'Reflections on Prem Sumārag'. Journal of Punjab Studies, vol 14, no 1 (Spring 2007), pp.123−132.

Art. 'Sikhī bāre merī nūn khoj', being a Punjabi translation of an article 'Studying the Sikhs'. Hun, Sept-Dec 2007, 7, pp. 95−101. Translated by Amarjit Chandan.

Art. 'Sikhs and caste'. Proceedings of a conference on Sikh Studies held in Dunedin, December 13th-15th, 2003, pp. 104−131. The Texture of the Sikh Past: New Historical Perspectives. Editor: Dr Tony Ballantyne. OUP, New Delhi, 2007.

Art. 'The Five Ks of the Khalsa Sikhs'. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 128.2 (2008), pp. 325−331.

Articles forthcoming

Art. 'Sikhs in Australia and New Zealand' for a book on the Sikh diaspora being edited by Professor Gurinder Singh Mann, University of California Santa Barbara.

Art. 'Guru Nanak' for Encyclopedia of Religion in Canada.

Art. 'The Sikh diaspora' for a book on the Sikhs to be edited by Mohinder Singh, New Delhi.

Art. 'Caste in the Sikh Panth'. Revised version of an essay of the same name published in The Evolution of the Sikh Community. To be included in a volume edited by Kamlesh Mohan for the ICHR volume Making of Caste: Myth or Reality.

Art. 'Translating Jap Sahib'. To be published in Journal of Punjab Studies.

Trans. The Jap of the Tenth Master. A translation of the Jap. To be published in Journal of Punjab Studies.

Professor Emeritus Erik Olssen FRSNZ
Department of History, University of Otago
Dunedin, New Zealand

Information was lodged on the website on Friday, 19 November 2010.